In a bit of unexpected news, NihilisticNinja is now back and functioning at GM capacity! While I'll still get Kwando to do a check as well, we're back on track!

In the meantime, I do realize there has been a lull. Like I said in my previous post here, feel free to continue interacting as normal, because I don't imagine we'll reach a decision in the next few days. Projections show that we should be done reading (collectively, as I've already done a read through, but need to re-read them since it's been a while), and this coming weekend should be the best deliberation time. Therefore, a decision (whether we send them back or accept one) on the first batch should be reached by Monday at the earliest, next Wednesday/Thursday at the latest.

This is an utter formality given the state of the RP but just for reference I am dropping out as a GM for UDRP for personal reasons. If Ami and kwand want to figure out some way to bring closure to the RP, that will be something that they do by themselves.

"With good friends by your side, anything is possible. If you really care for each other, it makes everyone stronger! Then you'll have the will to succeed! The world is filled with painful things, it's sad sometimes, and you won't be able to handle it by yourself. But just know: If there's someone that you love, you'll stay on the right path. And you won't ever give in! As long as you keep that person in your heart, you'll keep getting back up. Understand? That's why a Hero never loses!"

Me and Spd have talked and we've agreed that, at this point, UDR is more-or-less dead. As such, I've decided to reveal an 8track I prepared for Higami a while back which I've never revealed because of spoilers. So... Enjoy! I suppose.

It's been a week since questions were asked (again), so I asked a GM proper.

I've spoken with kwando, one of the two remaining GMs for the game, and they seem to agree on xat that as to whether or not the game is dead... 'pretty much, yeah.'

So, rather than drown things out with a storm of negativity, I'd like to ask of all of the players still checking on the thread... what was your design process for your characters? What have you learned as a writer from portraying them? What would you have done differently? Are there any moments you really felt the character clicked? Did you envision them being a killer, a victim, or a survivor (and why)?

I'll do up character reviews at some point - and also perhaps a post-mortem on the first murder, which was long overdue to begin with (I know at least one person was really looking forward to seeing it!).

So, let's hear it. I did up a huge thing about Heath after his passing - I'd love to see anything anyone else is willing to share.

As I've told you before, SPD, I intend to do a write-up on what exactly went on in my mind while creating Kyouji and writing as him. Can't say when it'll be done, but I'm going to put pressure on myself by saying "before the end of the week" so I have motivation to actually do it.

Anthony was written as a character that worked best in a DRRP - one without a particularly engaging personality that you could easily kill off without angering anyone. I only realized this about a month ago, after Anthony/Kari became semi-canon. Oops.

I planned to have him kill Calliope in chapter 4 after snapping and going insane. Yay.

I have a good deal to say about Daisuke (as always) but for now, I will say that Daisuke has the distinction here of being the only character in any DRRP that I feel like I wrote well. Comparatively Sylvie and Kagami/Yakuro were a non-entity and a terrible concept (respectively) but Daisuke is one I feel I handled at least somewhat decently. He had a far clearer motivation and personality, and had a much simpler direction. He was less convoluted and thus I could focus more on creating an entertaining read as opposed to constantly fighting to justify every step he took.

I did yet again fall short with proper planning, since going into all the DRRPs I basically went in to wing it and just mostly played to survive, without really focusing on making use of the time I was given. This led me to trying to survive so I could have time to improve, which led to not having time to improve, which led to spending more time to survive, which led to not having time... And so on and so forth.

I believe I mentioned somewhere that Daisuke was originally envisioned as a Case 1 killer in a DR fic I was working on, and I had most of the major details down at that point. He was a smug jerkass with a strong competitive drive and was largely different in that early!Daisuke was much more of an active jerk as oppose to the more subdued, reclusive anti-social and slightly relateble (or what I attempted to make relatable) jerk he was for the most part. I think I'd wanted him to kill at some point, but only after he'd been through enough to make it somewhat meaningful. I wanted him to wind up with at least one relationship that might start helping him grow before axing him off, but I could have tried harder at that. Part of me thinks it would have just been better to go FULL JERK and have him play a more directly antagonistic role, as I feel I might have tried making him a sympathetic character a bit too much. Though, maybe that's just me.

I plan to reuse Jackie in the future so I won't give away details of her character. I wrote to survive, mostly because I just picked up a character that fit in a DRRP when the RP needed replacement members in it. Though I got a little too connected to Jackie and got paranoid about her getting axed off so I tended to not want to post at all at times. Kind of a bad idea to use a character concept you really liked on a whim, I suppose. I did really enjoy her development and interaction but I'd like to complete her character arc in full some day so I'll be saving her for later.

Hersh/Fiendy has credit for the amazing GiGi pics and enigma has credit for the adorable Kenshin Mega Man sprite!